Sweat bee

In contrast to yesterday, the weather this morning was dazzling. I had a lot of desk work to do, and ploughed through it with gritted teeth, desperately hoping that it would still be fine by the time I'd finished. I managed to free myself from my study around lunch time, and hit the garden with camera in hand; the warm, humid air was absolutely teeming with bugs, but very few of them were in the mood to settle for long enough for me to take a decent photo.

An exception was this tiny sweat bee, which is a Lasioglossum female, most probably L. calceatum. This is an interesting species because in the north of the UK it's solitary, and in the south social - and in the Midlands I suppose it could be either, but my guess would be that this individual is a worker from a small colony. She's very worn and ragged, and probably coming to the end of her life, so I tried not to disturb her meal as she ate from the forget-me-not.

Having bagged a few bug shots I did a couple of hours work in the back garden, edging and fine weeding the long south border which R has been rough weeding over the past few days. I created my edge curve as I went along, which was probably a mistake as I'm very definitely not someone who can draw a perfect circle freehand - so I'll probably feel the need to tinker with it tomorrow. Nonetheless, we've made good progress and we're feeling pretty pleased with ourselves.

Many thanks to those of you who left nice comments, stars and hearts on yesterday's clematis - they're very much appreciated. And may I remind you before I go that if it's still Tuesday where you are, this week's Tiny Tuesday challenge is still open; please mark your entries with the tag tt101.